My head was pounding, and I was pretty sure it was from the drug. Karu and I had once had a long chat about how different things were in media and real life when it came to knocking people unconscious.

For starters, nobody was ever simply clubbed over the head and knocked out, only to wake up later with no lasting effects. Concussions were serious business, and having one of those was the least of your worries if you were smacked hard enough to go unconscious.

Similarly for drugging. Chloroform was the knock-out drug of choice in vids and movies, and Karu had even offered to demonstrate it on me, which I'd gratefully declined. Helped that at the time, I was in a rocky relationship with AEGIS, and didn't want to entrust my unconscious body with Karu. She'd just laughed and said it takes at least five minutes of inhaling the stuff before being at risk of passing out to it; most victims we saw in media would just suffer a headache, or tiredness at worst.

It was the stuff in needles that was really concerning. Breathing things in meant the compound had to pass through the lungs, and then be processed and bound to hemoglobin before migrating into the bloodstream where it could finally act. Even then, only compounds which could be mistaken by the body for oxygen would be absorbed. A needle circumvented all of that, could knock a person out with terrifying ease, with chemicals that could reach their target in mere heartbeats.

I'd asked, and Karu had explained that there was no functional difference between a knock-out drug and literal poison. Anything was a poison; poison was a matter of dose, not composition. She could inject me with water and kill me, not because water was super dangerous...if I remembered, blood was already like eighty-percent water already...but because even something so harmless could be lethal with enough present.

The same for the knockout drugs. It was a poison, just administered at the exact right dosage that it slowed the heart or mind to sleep, instead of death. But even doing that exacted a toll, the brain wasn't exactly happy with suddenly being put in a chokehold.

Hence the buzzing headache, the aches across my muscles, the bitter taste in my mouth. And how dumb and slow and groggy I felt. It was my body dealing with the aftereffects of being poisoned. It had to be.

Because that made sense and was convenient. The alternative...was that with just three muses crammed in my body, I was already beginning to feel them fighting inside me for my limited attention.

But honestly, I hardly noticed. Because what had transpired while I was sleeping was nothing short of a miracle. I felt blessed.

I felt everything.

I was everything I'd been before, but more. My trick, where I could reach into the earth and force electricity into it, so I could see through my powers instead of my eyes? I was doing that now, but miles around us. My electricity was surging across every glass-scarred crater pocking the surface, I was counting the number of floors in this facility and surveying the damage on each, all at the same time. My mind just seemed that much bigger, like my whole life until now, I'd only been able to see the world by peeking through the vents of a locker, never realizing you could open the door and stroll right on out.

Out...amidst...the bodies you were...looking at...or whatever. Not a perfect metaphor. Not important.

What was important was that it'd fuckin' worked. Two miles away, I found a streak of white stone on the surface of the ground, and conjured a sword to carve a smiley face into it. At the same time, I could feel the electric hum of the generator deep beneath our feet, and the path of the electricity from there, up to the lightbars glowing to illuminate the beacon from far above.

I could see inside AEGIS, in a more literal way than ever. Instead of just glaring brightness, now I could make out the minutiae of her pneumatics and servos, I could see the layers of insulation and redirection, the faraday cages built under her skin, to lightning-proof her and keep any stray bolts out of her important systems, as I'd never been able to before. I could see the sparks moving up and down her, turning motors on and off, to move her arms, her legs, a hand resting on her hip, her lips moving.

Her fingers snapping in front of my face. My brow furrowed. I recognized the gesture as her trying to get my attention, but I didn't want to give it. She seemed so insignificant compared to everything around I could perceive instead. I wondered if Jack had this problem when he had to open his eyes to see what was just in front of him.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Hey, you're ignoring me, and that's frankly a little scary, given what you just did," she said, her tone curt. "I'm asking if you're okay."

"Yes. Better than okay. This is amazing."

"Well I'm glad to hear it. But now that you and your sister are both addicted to roiding out on aliens, I think it's time we leave. Cer can show us to the portal--"

"It's on floor B31-F. I can feel it. I can read the signs on that floor, the faint difference in conductivity between the raised lettering and the baseplate. It's six stories above us now, there's one-hundred and sixty-three steps in the stairs from here to there. Twenty-three in each floor, but an extra twenty-five for this floor, on account of its height."

Being able to see it all, it was impossible to miss the look on her face. Even if she was trying to hide it, the microexpressions in her lips, her cheeks, there were motors at play in there, which shined like strobe lights to my mind, as subtle as the sun.

She was worried about me, but more, she was scared of me now. No, not just now, for a while now. It was so bizarre-feeling that I hadn't picked up on it before, it seemed obvious as anything.

"What are you so afraid of?" I asked.

"I'm not afraid." She crossed her arms and her chin lowered by imperceptible degrees. Defensive, as were here words.

I spent another moment studying her and then took a step forward without warning.

She took a step back, hands at the ready. I grinned.

"Scared," I confirmed, not that I needed a test to know. "Of me."

"It's nothing, Athan. Just my own shit I'm dealing with, okay? Let's just pack up here and get home so we can deal with Justice."

"Hmm, yeah," I agreed, still thinking. I felt like I was thinking faster, too. Or at least, felt more confident in my thinking. Part of it might be the Ramanathan Window, I considered...in situations where there wasn't any risk of death, the window manifest in unexpected ways, interfacing with the Exhuman's mind and sorting out what problems did exist. Maybe mine was dealing with my mental hang-ups and apprehension.

Or, maybe not. It could be that just feeling potent for the first time was a huge ego boost I needed.

"I don't know about Justice," I considered aloud. "I don't have a plan for how we could hope to beat him, even now."

"Then let's go home and make a plan."

I shook my head. "The beacon is the strongest tool in our toolbox, I'm not leaving it behind until I know we're done with it."

"And you're turning it off when you're done?"

"Absolutely. Cer, you got that?"

"Cer, understanding, will disable the beacon at honored guest's insistence when he concludes his work." He made a noise like a digitized sniffling. "So proud! Cer, seeing his work reach beautiful fruition. Tears!"

"Whatever," I shrugged. He still was kind of a freaky little defect, getting excited about making Exhumans in a way that caused my stomach to turn. But at least he was loyal.

"Here's how I see this going now," I said, taking one of the seats and wincing at my head buzzing again with the movement. "We all know some of Justice's powers, we know that he's incredibly resilient somehow, and the amount of pain he can inflict. I probably out-range him now, but that's not going to do me any good if I can't kill him instantly. He's just gonna fly over to where I am and tear me apart."

AEGIS took a deep breath and then nodded. "Granted. But we've got Lia too, now."

Lia's nodding was much more exuberant, but I dismissed that.

"Lia might be able to force him not to attack for a bit until he figures out what's going on, but that's not going to win us the fight. All Justice has to do is move outside her range and he can kill her, too. He might even do it incidentally, just lashing out on his approach. We need a better plan than that."

"What better plan do you propose, Athan?"

I turned the stool to face the beacon again, and began perusing the list of concepts. The screen stopped scrolling when AEGIS' hand went splayed onto it.

"No, we're not putting any more into you," she said.

"We have to. I need some kind of finisher I can use to end him, to end this entire conflict."

"Athan, we have no idea how many of these you can cram into you before you wind up just like him. You're lucky that you're at three and you're still mostly yourself. I say we do what we've always done and work with what we have."

"We've always done that because we didn't have a choice, AEGIS. We were the underdogs because of stupid, dumb luck, the universe conspiring to beat us down. For once, we're in a position to be administering beatdowns, and I'm about fucking ready to take my turn at it."

"You know what you sound like, right? You're ready to beat people down? You want what you're finally owed? That's Exhuman talk, the kind that goes crazy on a power trip and winds up stopped by the XPCA after blowing up a few thousand innocents."

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"It's Justice, dude. He deserves the greatest beatdown that history has ever seen."

"It's about the ends justifying the means, then?"

"Would you stop freaking out?" I snapped. "You've been all insane and jittery the whole time we've been here."

She flinched again, and in that, through my new sight, I saw more than just nerves. I found myself pausing as she hesitated without words.

"You really do think I've turned Exhuman on you, don't you?" I asked. "You're battling with your programming again. After all this--"

"It's not like that," she held herself, her frown turning bitter. "I...it's different this time. Ever since I learned that...that there was a second muse..."

"Oh."

"No, not like that! I meant what I said, I still think that's just...a part of you. I don't hate you for having that in you, really!"

"Well that makes one of us."

She shook her head and soldiered on. "Well ever since then, I've had some kind of system kick on that's telling me that I've been compromised. I'm hacked code, a defect now...and I have...I have a really unshakable urge to cleanse the source...and to revert to an untainted iteration. It's some kind of security precaution...to prevent tampering, to prevent...I don't know, a situation like when they made TARGA."

I watched her with eyes beyond eyes and saw her struggling on the spot, as she did her best to remain still despite all the miniscule twitches firing beneath her skin. She was squeezing herself, almost painfully, with her arms, to keep them taut and controlled, her fingernails digging into her forearms with angry red lines.

I found my anger at the situation dissolving into pity. I happened to agree with Dr. Cross on this one; it made perfect sense that if AEGIS discovered her code was tampered with that she'd have an overriding impulse to reset to before that happened. It only made sense to put in that kind of safeguard for a living model that was intended to iterate in order to grow.

But at the same time, fuck. The only version of her which hadn't been 'tampered' with was at the very start, before she even met me, before she knew me. Maybe the very first iteration, when she was just put into Rua, and maybe not even then. There was no going back from this possibly...but seeing her stammer and twitch uncomfortably over there, I couldn't imagine her spending the rest of her life like this, tweaking and jumpy, with an impulse to self-terminate.

Her manic action and forced expressions made me turn to Lia, of whom I was being reminded for all the wrong reasons. My sister was just shaking her head and thinking, every once in a while, perking up like she'd thought of something, and then frowning as that idea dissipated into uselessness.

It was hard to watch, and strange for her to be so quiet. She wasn't completely silent, her feet still shuffled on the metal, and she made small grunts and thinking noises...but for her to not speak up after them broke my heart.

"Don't look at me like that," AEGIS said, as though it was her I was watching right now. I had to blink, and realized, I was looking at her. I'd been watching Lia with my powers and forgotten to turn my flesh-and-blood look-holes. This was still taking some getting used to, living like Jack.

"Sorry," I muttered.

"I hate it," she pouted. "I don't want you thinking I'm a defect. I've fought off my programming before, and I can do it again. There's nobody that controls what this body does but me. I hate that you'd look at me with pity just because I have some struggles going on. Everyone has struggles, right? Everyone's messed up. So don't do that to me, Athan."

I really couldn't say that I was looking at Lia at the time, now. Instead I just nodded glumly. Everyone did, indeed, have troubles.

"I'm...going to beat this thing. I'm not going to give in and revert. I'll...slice my own code if I have to, take out whatever it takes to shut down this...warning system. I'll be good as new soon, you just see."

She sounded so firey but so tired. I could tell just by her voice that she would succeed. Nothing in the world could really stand in AEGIS' way if she put her mind to it. But at the same time, it was totally unfair. Nobody else had shit like this just sprung on them, random roadblocks designed into their own mind to force her to be someone against her will. Messed up, sure, but through chance and bad luck, not through intent.

I found myself sighing and wishing I could just hold her until things were all better. But I couldn't. It wouldn't fix anything, no matter how much I loved her or wanted her to be okay. We came here for a job, and now, with both of my friends completely fucked by this stupid place, we could finish it, and get back to saving the rest.

I could finish it. Just not yet.

"Let's go," I said. "Let's go back like you said, as soon as we can, and put Justice in front of us so we can put this place behind us."

Lia perked up and looked at me funny, and AEGIS gave her thoughts words. "What about...what you said? That you're not strong enough to fight Justice yet?"

"Well, that was...before I knew you were struggling," I said evasively. "I do...I mean...I love you, AEGIS. And if we're disagreeing and it's making you suffer...I would really...rather you didn't have to."

She looked at me funny for a moment. Sorta askew, sort of longingly. I wasn't sure if she wanted to walk over and kill me as per her programming, or wrap me in the hug I thought she deserved. And the fact I couldn't tell fucking sucked. But at least in that moment, whether it was because I'd said something that resonated with her, or because she and her programming agreed, for one second there she stopped twitching and shuddering and just stood thoughtfully.

And then the moment passed, with a twinge in her neck that made her hair visibly whip like snakes.

"Okay, the sooner we're out of here the better. I...I…" her mouth twisted into all kinds of shapes as though she didn't quite control it. "I...love you...too, Athan."

"Touching!" Cer commented. I whipped my attention to him with a glare.

"Cer, we're going to the portal back to our Earth. I guess, thank you for your hospitality."

Even though mostly, I felt like he'd still massively fucked up our entire world and I loathed him, there was still room for manners.

"Cer, seeing you to the gate!" he said, his voice slightly teary, as he scooted on ahead of us towards the elevator. "Honored guests, promise to visit again? Cer, might have new projects he is working on!"

"But nothing involving Exhumans or our world, right?" I asked as the elevator doors closed behind us.

"Right. Confirmed. Cer, hearing you loud and clear with your displeasure of his salvation of your planet. Unappreciated. Sad."

I shook my head at the self-pitying little robot. Maybe it would be a good idea to terminate him after all, in case he decided to turn it back on just for the attention or something. The risk of leaving him alive seemed disproportionate.

But then again, he was just trying to follow orders, even if he'd fucked up enormously. As much as I might hate him for being a goddamn idiot and fucking over our entire world, he did so by being too loyal and literal. It gave sort of incredible credibility to his word, as much as I didn't like it.

"Cer, apologizing for the mess, yet again," he said. And this time I actually understood why.

This lab had been battered open with some force. The windows were cracked, but still holding with reinforcing wire running through them, but the wooden door was completely bent out of shape, warped as though hit with a battering ram too many times, splintered and cracked on every inch of its surface.

Which was impressive considering it was a real wood door, not a cheap hollow one. I guess there really was no expense spared in making this underground monstrosity.

If Aesa's portals looked like a pale blue egg, and Justice's 'angle-gates' were a triangle floating immovable in front of a black sheet of stars, this gate was the most conventional wormhole I'd ever seen.

It looked like a gash, maybe seven feet tall and four wide, the edges of which were flickering as though made of lightning, and the void inside looking like...gravity? I wasn't sure quite what it looked like, neither of my sets of senses seemed to be able to register it exactly properly. All I knew was just looking at it made me feel like I was being pulled in.

"Still running!" Cer said with obvious fascination. "Emergency machine, built by Ramanathan, with instructions not to use until very recently. His wishes, respected, and it sat idle for almost three-hundred years, until the war, when it provided safe escape for all who were in this facility. Enlightened!"

He spoke with such reverence. I just wondered what the influx of alien-Earth refugees had done to our Earth when they'd shown up...sixty years ago, I guess. If I were AEGIS, I guess I might look into that someday, but I had much bigger issues.

"You first," I told Lia, and she nodded at me, giving me the briefest of hugs before stepping into the gash. There wasn't a boom or crack or anything, she just seemed to freeze on the spot and then...disappear, fading as though dust blowing away. It looked less painful than the means we'd used to get here.

"And then you, mister," AEGIS said. She put on her best smile, even if there was a sigh running through it. "The sooner we get home, the sooner I can put myself back together. The sooner we can fix all of this."

"I'd rather you go. I like watching your butt," I grinned.

Her smile froze, caught between widening into a full grin, and the strange twitching on her face.

"I'd...normally...I'd jump at the chance," she said, smoothing down her dress, again fighting with the temptation to do just the opposite. "But...I'm sorry. I'm feeling...feeling so paranoid right now. I really just want to see you through. We can be all obnoxiously sexed-up some other time, okay? I promise. I just...please?"

I took a deep, steadying breath, and walked over to her, moving with slow, deliberate movements, each of which still made her flinch. Gently as I could, I put my hands on her shoulders and stared into her beautiful, electric-yellow eyes.

"I love you. You know that," I told her.

"I...I do. I'm...I'm sorry."

"Whatever happens, we'll get through it, you know that?"

"I...do. I'm just…"

Her hands were twitching like crazy. She was doing her best not to fight me off holding her. Her eyes kept darting off of mine and to where I was touching her shoulders.

I took a deep breath, and she tensed up like crazy, her systems bracing for an attack against her will. I saw a minute shake of her head as she struggled to relax, to calm her body down, to tell herself that I was her friend, and I'd never harm her. It was like she was struggling with a panic attack, but slowly, slowly winning. Slowly convincing herself that there wasn't anything to be afraid of, that she was safe, that I was fine.

I closed my eyes and hated myself.

She was wrong. Her systems were right. As hard as I could, I wrenched her sideways, throwing her off-balance and into the portal.

Like Lia, she froze as she entered, gradually becoming more and more ghostly as she dissolved into the void. Her face was shock and accusation, layered atop a crushing, heart-breaking vindication, that I was dangerous, that she was right. I should have been stopped, should have been killed.

I was just another Exhuman.

Until at last, there was nothing in the void but just the look of gravity again, and I could turn back to Cer, who was looking at me sideways, edging away slightly.

"Sorry," I said, even though it wasn't he to whom I wanted to apologize. "She wouldn't understand."

"Cer, not certain he understands either," he said warily.

"I meant what I said before. Right now, if I fight Justice, I'm just going to be swinging swords at him from out of his range. It won't do enough. I need more powers. I need a silver bullet, something I can combine with this new...range power I have. An ultimate attack, to wipe him out for good."

"Cer...confused. Elated! Also, confused. The beacon, unfinished with its purpose, still?"

"That's right. It's got one more job to do."

My mind raced over the list of concepts I'd seen already. Nothing jumped out at me as I'd described, no silver-bullet one-hit-KO, sudden death move like I wanted.

But now that I had this range meta-power which worked on my others...maybe I didn't need that. I'd seen AMPLITUDE on there before, and from my impressions there, I thought it might work similarly, might crank up the dial on my existing powers rather than give me a new one. Maybe I could find two or three more like that, keep relying on my lightning, really build it up into the god-slaying weapon I needed.

"Cer, still confused, but happy! Will be eager to provide assistance to honored guest, one final time."

We were back at the beacon in no time, as I made a list of selections, finding it much easier to find compelling concepts to jam into myself, rather than forcing them on my sister. It wasn't long before we had a rough game plan laid out, and I was stretched out on a gurney with a small syringe in my hand.

"If things go wrong, if I wind up...confused, aggressive," I told Cer, as I gripped and re-gripped the cold metal tube "It's essential you get me into that portal. I need to fight Justice, no matter what happens to me."

"Cer, understands, will use every tool at his disposal to see your task to completion. Good night, honored guest."

"My head is going to kill me," I said, plunging in the needle. "If AEGIS doesn't first."

The room seemed to streak into blackness, and before I knew it, I was out.